Not because I reached or achieved the goal, but unfortunately, because it is no longer possible.

Ever since I was a kid I dreamed of watching a baseball game at Yankee Stadium.

It is The House That Ruth Built.  It is the home to 85 years of baseball history, 37 World Series, and 4 All-Star games.

Legends like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe Dimaggio, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, and Phil Rizzuto created memories, set records, and won championships in this baseball heaven.

Yankee Stadium hosted its last game last night.  A 7-3 Yankee win over the Baltimore Orioles.  Appropriately, Derek Jeter was the last Yankee to bat in this grand stadium.

I actually did not literally mark this life goal off my list because I don’t actually have a written list of life goals.  And maybe that is why I never attained this particular goal.

Mark Batterson says this about writing down life goals…..

The first step to accomplishing a goal is simply writing it down.  The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory!

Have you written any life goals down?

Do you have a life goal that you should focus on attaining before it is no longer possible?

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(Actually, it is still kind of my dream, but at the age of 31, things aren’t looking so good)

I wonder if 30 year old Shawn Chacon had the same dream as a kid.

Today, the Astros released him after a string of bad behavior that was topped off with Chacon shoving Astros’ General Manager Ed Wade to the ground. (Read the details here)

That’s just crazy to me.  That a guy living his dream……doing what tons of young boys (and grown men) dream of……would just throw it all away.

Oh well. The good news is this will open up a roster spot and that means that another young man will soon be living his dream.

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And Austin, TX will soon be losing a landmark that most sports fans in Austin never fully appreciated.

Keller-Faszholz Field saw its final pitch on Saturday afternoon and it will soon be demolished as a result of Concordia University’s campus relocation.

Over the years, Keller-Faszholz Field never received any multi-million dollar donations and there weren’t any corporate sponsors banging down the door for naming rights to the field, but this “sparkling gem” in the middle of Austin possessed some features that money can’t buy…….charm……character……quirkiness.

I learned a lot about baseball and life on the immaculately manicured, yet imperfect ballyard as a college baseball player in the late 90s.

I learned the hard way about strength, courage, and determination from my legendary coach, James Keller, as I watched him battle Lou Gerhig’s Disease.

I learned the hard way that hard work, team work, high expectations, and a strong leader almost always produce positive results.

I learned the hard way that laziness, selfishness, low expectations, and a lack of leadership almost always produce poor results.

And the foundation for my Christian faith was strengthened when a more mature and much wiser player took a young freshman under his wing and showed him the ropes.

So in a few months when the bulldozers have finished their job, most Austinites probably won’t even notice what is missing…….but when I travel back home to Austin to visit, it just won’t be the same.

* Be sure to check out the nice tribute by Kirk Bohls that appeared in the Austin American-Statesman here

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Baseball & HD…….A very good mix.

But I am still not crazy about the opening game being on a Sunday night. The first game of the major league season should be a day game on Opening Day.

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I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this article about Biggio’s replacement, Kaz Matsui.

My favorite paragraph……

“The word [hemmorhoids] carries a negative connotation in Japan,” Wade said. “That’s why we had to go back and readjust it to anal fissure. It translates into a word in Japan that has a different meaning. That’s why we flipped it over to the more graphic actual problem.”

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